


Third Wheel

by tridecaphilia



Series: The Timers Never Fail [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 02:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1328899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tridecaphilia/pseuds/tridecaphilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek feels left out. Scott has a solution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Third Wheel

Stiles would never get used to the logistics of dating as a threesome.

When the three of them went out for an activity, it was fine. Mini-golf and bowling and pottery and cooking allowed them to move and change their arrangement as needed. But there were only so many such dates that any of them could stand. Every so often, or more often sometimes, they needed the quiet intimacy of a _real_ date.

The problem was that such dates were not designed for three people. Stiles and Scott agreed without making it obvious that if they were at a movie Derek would always sit in the middle. They had enough time together otherwise; Derek only saw them for their dates, so it was only fair that he be the one to sit between his soulmates. Restaurants, however, posed a whole new set of problems.

There were generally three possible table arrangements at restaurants. Option one: the booth. This never worked for them, and they avoided it unless the restaurant was really, really crowded, in which case they worked something out. Option two: the square table. This was marginally better, but it was an unfortunate fact that any table at a restaurant big enough to seat three was big enough to seat four, which meant that at a square table they weren’t terribly close to each other and one of them was in the middle (again, Derek).  Option three: the round table, which allowed them to sit as close as they wanted with one of them (Derek) in the middle and the other two still separated. None of those options, however, were ideal.

Maybe it was because Stiles himself was so frustrated with it that he didn’t realize that it bothered Derek a lot more.

~

It was their third dinner date as a threesome, and as always the waitress didn’t seem to realize it was a date, even when she realized all three of their timers were at zero. It wasn’t her fault, Stiles reminded himself; she didn’t think it was possible for three people to be soulmates. _He_ hadn’t even thought it was possible until a few weeks ago.

When she brought the entrees, she made a point of leaning over Derek to give Stiles his, giving Derek a clear view of her chest. Derek looked away, toward Stiles, looking faintly desperate.

Stiles took the dish and set it down in front of him. “Thanks,” he said, giving the waitress a bright smile. He leaned into Derek and slid his arm around his shoulders as he asked, “Could I get a refill on this?” He held out his half-empty Coke.

The waitress nodded, taking the glass and leaving without another word. Her shoulders were stiffer than they’d been before. Derek gave Stiles a grateful smile, which Stiles kissed.

“Maybe we should figure out some way to make it clear,” Scott said.

“How?” Derek asked. “As far as everyone else here is concerned, this is something out of a romance novel.”

Stiles couldn’t argue with that. The “three soulmates” story was second only in popularity to the “second soulmate” story, in which someone whose soulmate had died woke up to find their timer counting down again; and it dwarfed by a large margin the “timer-free soulmate” story where the two found each other despite one soulmate being timer-free, usually ending with the timer-free soulmate realizing how big a mistake they’d made.

What annoyed him the most was that when waiters _did_ think it was a date, they assumed one of them was extra. Who they assumed that about was typically determined by how the threesome had solved the logistics that time, and it was _always_ annoying as hell.

Stiles, for one, _liked_ that their relationship had three wheels. It felt more stable, like Derek was a literal third wheel instead of the proverbial one. A necessary component of their relationship, not a downgrade.

But this kept happening. People who didn’t see the harm in flirting and having flings with people who weren’t their soulmates would hit on whichever of the group they thought was unattached—usually, because of the age difference, Derek. Timer-free people were the worst; Derek looked ready to throw up whenever one of _them_ started flirting with him. Someday Stiles would have to ask about that.

But this waitress had a timer. She also had over a year left on her countdown, so she wasn’t looking for a soulmate. She probably wanted better tips or something. Probably.

Stiles glared at his burger, thoroughly irritated with everything.

Scott leaned forward across the table, covering both the others’ hands with his. “We’ll figure something out,” he said, looking so earnest that Stiles even almost believed it. “We will. We won’t have to deal with this forever.”

Stiles shrugged. Derek grimaced. Scott squeezed both their hands and then returned to his own meal.

None of them brought up the issue again. Stiles made fun of the waitress to distract himself from his own annoyance and try to make Derek less tense; it didn’t work well, but he could tell Derek appreciated the effort. Scott and Stiles both made a point of being obnoxiously flirtatious with Derek whenever the waitress came near, which actually got a smile out of him (and a lot of awkwardness out of her).

At the end of the night, Derek drove both Scott and Stiles back to their houses.

All in all, it was a pretty typical date for them, until the next day.

~

“Dude,” Scott said by way of greeting when he reached Stiles’ locker. “We’ve got to do something. We need a way to make Derek feel like he’s not being left out.”

Stiles frowned at Scott. “I didn’t sleep well last night,” he informed him. It was true, and mostly to do with the fact that his brain would not let go of the waitress and all the other waiters and waitresses like her. “You’re going to have to back up and explain.”

Scott sighed. “Stiles, we’ve got over a decade of history together. We have inside jokes and we tease each other, and we tone it down around Derek but we can’t just erase that history. And combine that with everyone and the waitress thinking that Derek is unattached because if anyone’s going to be soulmates it’ll be the two who are the same age…” He shrugged.

“Are you… are you saying Derek is _jealous?_ ”

“Yes, I’m saying Derek is jealous!” Scott threw up his hands. “And you know what, I am too. I’m jealous of Lydia and Jackson, Erica and Boyd—I’m jealous of _Allison and Isaac_. Because all of them _fit._ When they go on dates people see two people, doing a date activity, acting like a couple, with timers at zero—soulmates! They see us, and even if we explained it they wouldn’t believe it. And you can’t tell me it doesn’t bother you because I see you, okay, I see how much you want to snap at people when they ask each of us who our soulmate is. And yeah, it’s worse for Derek, because we have this time at school and he doesn’t, and we have the same schedule and we have to juggle his so we don’t get to see him outside of dates.”

“So what do you suggest, Scott? Quit school and hang out at the Sweet Shop all day?” Not that Stiles would object to that plan, but it didn’t seem like a good one.

Scott rolled his eyes. “No. I’ve been thinking about this, okay? I have a plan.”

“What is it, then?”

Scott told him.

It was a good plan.

~

Once again, Scott and Stiles crashed Derek’s shift.

They leaned against the counter and waited for Derek to notice them. Which he did, as soon as the line died down a bit.

“Hey,” he said.

Now that he was looking, Stiles could see the tired lines around Derek’s eyes, even though he was smiling. This wasn’t working, the way they were doing it. Scott’s idea was good. It was time to get Derek on board.

“So Scott and I were thinking,” Stiles began. Scott raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay, Scott’s the one who came up with this, I just think his idea is good.”

“What idea?” Derek’s frown had a hint of apprehension in it.

“We date you separately,” Scott said.

Derek blinked. “What?”

Scott gestured between them. “Look, we all agree that this whole threesome-dates thing isn’t working. People think we’re not on a date, and they treat us like we’re not on a date. You end up feeling left out because Stiles and I have been friends for years, and all three of us end up feeling left out of the whole soulmate thing because we don’t look like what people think of when they think of soulmates. So, Stiles and I think the best solution is for us to go on separate dates with you. You and me, and you and Stiles, and then in a while when we’re more comfortable, the three of us together again.”

Stiles found himself holding his breath as he waited for Derek to react.

There was a long moment where the only sound was Abby ringing up someone’s order. Then Derek smiled and leaned forward across the counter to kiss Scott, and then Stiles, quick and gentle. “Okay,” he said.

Scott gave him one of his thousand-watt smiles. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ship hate will be deleted without comment.


End file.
